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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Byron, Georgia » Fruit and Tree Nut Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #231329
Title: Performance of Prunus rootstocks in the 2001 NC-140 peach trial

Author
item REIGHARD, G - CLEMSON UNIV
item Beckman, Thomas
item BELDING, R - RUTGERS UNIV
item BLACK, B - UTAH STATE UNIV
item CLINE, J - UNIV OF GUELPH, ONTARIO
item COWGILL, W - RUTGERS UNIV
item GODIN, R - COLORADO STATE UNIV
item JOHNSON, R - UNIV OF CA
item KAMAS, J - TEXAS A&M
item KAPS, M - SE MISSOURI STATE UNIV
item LARSEN, H - COLORADO STATE UNIV
item LINDSTROM, T - UTAH STATE UNIV
item OUELLETTE, D - CLEMSON UNIV
item POKHAREL, R - COLORADO STATE UNIV
item STEIN, L - TEXAS A&M
item TAYLOR, K - UNIV OF GA
item WALSH, C - UNIV OF MARYLAND
item WARD, D - RUTGERS UNIV
item WHITING, M - WASHINGTON STATE UNIV

Submitted to: Acta Horticulturae
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/25/2011
Publication Date: 10/3/2011
Citation: Reighard, G.L., Beckman, T.G., Belding, R., Black, B., Cline, J., Cowgill, W., Godin, R., Johnson, R.S., Kamas, J., Kaps, M., Larsen, H., Lindstrom, T., Ouellette, D., Pokharel, R., Stein, L., Taylor, K., Walsh, C., Ward, D., Whiting, M. 2011. Performance of Prunus rootstocks in the 2001 NC-140 peach trial. Acta Horticulturae. 903:463-468.

Interpretive Summary: Traditionally, peach production in North America has relied on seedling peach rootstocks. However, with the loss of several soil fumigants tree longevity has become a serious issue in production areas suffering from replant problems. Over the past 5-10 years, a number of clonally propagated interspecific rootstocks for peach have been introduced into the US commercial trade. These new rootstocks have had very limited field testing. In order to evaluate the horticultural merits of these rootstocks under North American climatic conditions a set of uniform field trials were established in 2001 at 11 locations in North America under the auspices of the NC-140 Regional Research Project. After 5 growing seasons significant differences in rootstock effect on tree vigor, yield and fruit size were evident. This information is useful in identifying the optimum rootstock for different planting sites and management programs.

Technical Abstract: Fourteen Prunus rootstock cultivars and selections budded with either ‘Redtop’, ‘Redhaven’ or ‘Cresthaven’ peach were planted at 11 locations in North America in 2001 in a randomized block design with a tree spacing of 5 by 6 m and 8 replicates. These rootstocks included three peach seedling rootstocks: Lovell, Bailey, and Guardian® ‘BY520-9’ [selection SC-17]. Clonal rootstocks were peach x almond hybrids ‘BH-4’ (Bright’s Hybrid selection) and ‘SLAP’ (‘Cornerstone’); peach x plum hybrids ‘K146-43’ (‘Controller 5’), ‘K146-44’, and ‘P30-135’ (‘Controller 9’); interspecific plum hybrids ‘Hiawatha’, ‘Jaspi’ and ‘Julior’; interspecific Prunus hybrids ‘Cadaman®’ and ‘VVA-1’ (Krymsk® 1); and Prunus pumila selection ‘Pumiselect®’. The largest trees were from Georgia, Maryland, and South Carolina. ‘Cornerstone’, ‘BH-4’, Guardian®, Lovell, and ‘Cadaman®’ were the most vigorous rootstocks. ‘Jaspi’, ‘Controller 5’, ‘K146-44’ and ‘Krymsk®1’ were the least vigorous, having trunk circumferences 30-40% smaller than Lovell. No rootstock had a significantly higher survival rate than Lovell at all locations. ‘Julior’, ‘Jaspi’, and ‘Krymsk® 1’ had significantly more root suckers. Cumulative fruit yields were highest on the peach seedling, peach x almond, and ‘Cadaman®’ rootstocks. Lowest cumulative yields were from trees on ‘Jaspi’, ‘Krymsk® 1’, and ‘K146-44’ rootstocks. Fruit weight was significantly larger on ‘BH-4’, ‘Cornerstone’ and Bailey rootstocks. Bailey and ‘Jaspi’ had the highest and lowest cumulative yield efficiency, respectively.